15 Best Performing Arts Venues in USA

This hub of all highbrow arts features everything from hip-hop and reggae performances and Hawaiian slack-key guitar shows to international dance and circus troupes. The complex includes the 350-seat McCoy Theater, the 1,200-seat Castle Theater, the Schaefer International Gallery, and the elegant Yokouchi Pavilion, used for outdoor concerts. There's also a courtyard café for preshow dining and drinks.

The esteemed company presents several ballet performances throughout the year at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

The Avalon Theatre is one of the largest performing arts complexes in western Colorado, offering traveling lectures, dance, theater, and other cultural performances. The popular monthly "Dinner and a Movie" Tuesday nights bring classic and popular old blockbusters to the big screen, with receipts from a meal in town garnering free admission.

An array of arresting events happens here, from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, to storytelling series The Moth, to performances by activist artists Silencio Blanco, and more. The Los Angeles Ballet is one of the frequent guests here.

The Cincinnati Ballet performs classical and contemporary works here from October to mid-May.

This dramatic faux-Moorish theater is the principal venue for touring Broadway shows, national productions, concerts, and the Coca-Cola Summer Film Festival.

This community-based dance school and ballet company stages a few public performances each year, including festive balls and an annual winter concert.

The stunning KiMo Theatre, an extravagantly ornamented 650-seat Pueblo Deco movie palace, is one of the best places in town to see any type of show. Jazz, dance, blues, film—everything from traveling road shows to an inspired city-sponsored film series (Hitchcock pre-Hollywood, for example)—might turn up here. Former Albuquerque resident Vivian Vance of I Love Lucy fame once performed on the stage; today you're more likely to see Laurie Anderson, Wilco, or a film-festival screening.

Going on its 11th year presenting world-class productions, Los Angeles Ballet (LAB), the city's one and only professional classical ballet company, performs at a number of venues across the city, showcasing both classical and modern ballet.

Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago showcases dynamic interpretations of contemporary and traditional African and African American dance. Artistic director Amaniyea Payne travels to Africa to learn traditional dances and adapts them for the stage. Performances take place at various venues across the city.

Highly popular with kids, this 10-person dance troupe holds an annual Yuletide version of The Velveteen Rabbit (mid-November to mid-December), at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, that ranks among the city's best holiday-season performances. The group's main repertory season generally runs intermittently between January and June.

Developed by Georgia State University in a beautifully renovated and restructured former movie theater, the Rialto hosts film, theater, and dance, as well as musical performances by local and international performers.

Former San Francisco Ballet director Michael Smuin founded this company, whose works are renowned for their gorgeous fluidity. The company regularly integrates popular music—everything from Gershwin to the Beatles and Elton John—into performances, most of which take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Founded long before Riverdance, the Trinity Irish Dance Company promotes traditional and progressive Irish dancing. Shows take place at various venues in the city and suburbs. In addition to the world-champion professional group, you can also catch performances by younger dancers enrolled in the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance.